This past Tuesday morning I fished with Mr. Hampton Haines and his wife, Stacy, in celebration of their 28th wedding anniversary.

 

Hampton “Hamp” Haines of Georgetown captured this pending new Lake Belton record hybrid.  This fish nudged out the current catch & release category fish which measured 25.63″.  Haines’ fish was 25.75″ and 8.75 pounds.

 

Hamp and Stacy Haines celebrated their 28th wedding anniversary with a Belton Lake fishing trip.
The Haines live in Georgetown, Texas, and have two grown kids, both of whom are employed in the medical profession. A “shout out” to Ricky Guenat who referred them to me.

We fished four areas this morning. Our first stop targeted schooled white bass holding along a slope at 26 feet. We worked slabs among these fish and landed a total of 10 before the school dissipated and we moved on. These fish were all caught on slabs equipped with Hazy Eye Stinger hooks. At the remaining three spots we fished this morning, we used live bait and targeted hybrid striped bass. Our first stop for hybrid yielded a largemouth bass, a smallmouth bass, five hybrid striper, and 10 more white bass.

Our third stop, although intended for hybrid striper on live bait, yielded six more white bass. Our final stop of the morning, and the one at which we spent the most time, gave up more hybrid striped bass than white bass. This is the first time the balance has shifted towards hybrid striper since the flooding which began with a heavy rain two Monday nights ago.

Over a 31 foot bottom, we suspended our baits at between 23 and 26 feet in order to avoid catching any white bass present and to avoid drawing in any other white bass. I also used the largest baits I had captured in my cast net, all in an effort to fend off the white bass.

We did not have to wait very long for the hybrid striper present at this area to make their presence known. We enjoyed 90+ minutes of nonstop hybrid action from the time the first baits went down and until 11:20 when the action ground to a halt.

The highlight of the trip was Hamp’s capture of a pending new lake record hybrid striped bass.  This fish was the single hybrid striper any of my clients have ever brought to net. It weighed 8.75 pounds and measured 25.75 inches. It was quite wide across the back and had a bit of a pot belly.

Hamp did a great job of bringing it to net, and in helping me get quickly set up to weigh and measure the fish without undue stress or delay.

As required for entering recordbook fish, we got a picture of Hamp with the fish, and a picture of the fish on a measuring board with its mouth closed and tail lobes pinched together. We took the weight on my certified scale, although that measurement is optional for fish in the catch and release category, which is managed strictly by fish length.

When all was said and done today we had landed 59 fish of which two dozen were legal hybrids, and five of which exceeded 4.75 pounds.

TALLY = 59 FISH, all caught and released

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 7:15a

End Time: 12:15p

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 65F

Water Surface Temp: 71.2F

Wind Speed & Direction: SSE10-13

Sky Conditions: 100% grey cloud cover

Water Level: 3.54 feet above full pool and falling; 3900+ cfs release

GT = 40

Wx SNAPSHOT:

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area vic 146 – 10 white bass

**Area vic 1918 – 1 largemouth bass, 1 smallmouth bass, 5 hybrid, and 10 whites

**Area 1923 – 6 whites

**Area 1800 – 24 hybrid, 2 whites

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Website: www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

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